The Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation is on the verge of bankruptcy, and its future remains uncertain. The question is whether the federation will have a license, or will it sink under the weight of internal conflicts and financial chaos. Marin Milashki, general secretary of the federation, spoke to FAKTI.
– Mr. Milashki, will the weightlifting federation survive?
– With today's date, it is difficult to say whether it can. For the simple reason that everything is blocked as an activity.
– Blocked in the sense of – you don't have accounts, you don't have funds?
– First of all, as the general secretary, I don't even have a bank account. The bank accounts are held by President Stefan Botev, who never gives me access to them. This is done with a power of attorney, notarized. He promised to give one a month ago. As of today, there is none. Realistically, he is the only one who holds these instruments, and we - the rest of the Management Board - have no access to them.
– Has the newly elected president of the federation, Assen Zlatev, met with the former Minister of Sports, now with the acting one, to clarify the case surrounding the federation?
– He has met with the former several times. As far as I know, he has not yet met with the current one. But the minister himself, by law, does not have the right to interfere in the activities of the federations as a whole. He cannot exert influence. It can help, support, encourage, but legally it cannot intervene, because we are an association and are not part of the Ministry of Sports.
– Has the funding of the competitors been stopped?
– Yes, it has been stopped. We do not have a contract for 2026. In fact, no federation has a contract, no funding – because of the problems with the state budget, not only because of our internal problems. But with us, the problem is that we have not taken the necessary steps to reach a contract. And they are reporting, then auditing the reports and only then does the ministry assess whether the documents are in order and provide a contract.
– The competitors expressed serious concern about the European Championship. Will Bulgaria be represented at the championship?
– This depends on whether Bulgaria as a country will have a weightlifting federation.
If we remain without a license, there is no way we will have representatives at the European Championship in Batumi, Georgia.
All of this is related to Stefan Botev's affairs. When everything is blocked, we are heading towards bankruptcy. We filed for bankruptcy a year and a half ago. We have a case in the Sofia City Court. We have agreements with our creditors. If these agreements are not implemented, we can still enter bankruptcy proceedings. And when this happens, the ministry is legally obliged to revoke our license. Which means that there is no way we can participate in the European Championship from April 19 to 26.
– Is there time for the situation to improve?
– There is about two months. In principle, there is time, but this is related to real actions. And we cannot take any real action, because both the bread and the knife are in President Stefan Botev. There is no way we can do anything.
– The newly elected President Asen Zlatev assured the General Assembly that he has provided funds to cover the debts and restart the activity, but...
– Yes, but the people who are ready to give money want to give it to President Asen Zlatev, not to President Stefan Botev, because they do not trust him. If Stefan Botev resigns and Asen Zlatev is registered as president of the federation, things will get better very quickly.
– Will this happen in your opinion?
– It can happen if a person has dignity, if he is a man, because our sport is a man's, and if he cares about the sport being preserved. If he wants to have bars in Bulgaria, he will do it. If not – then he is a liquidator. Stefan says that the cases that block the registration have nothing to do with him. But we in this sport know each other well and know that this is not the case.
– What is happening with the preparation of the national team?
– The centralized preparation began in early February and will continue until the start of the European Championship in Georgia. This became a fact thanks to the Ministry of Sports, which ensured the entire preparation of the national team, despite the fact that there were financial problems. So we must thank the acting Minister of Sports Dimitar Iliev, respectively his deputy Daniela Dasheva, who reacted quickly, and so the national team camp before the European Championship will take place as planned.
– What can be done?
– We can call on society, the media, and business to help with funds to save the sport. Right now we are talking about ego struggles and measuring dignity. But if the federation goes bankrupt, no one will have dignity.